The Collective Shadow of La Familia Cruz

This chapter explores the transgenerational transmission of trauma through the case study of the Cruz family. It examines the family’s belief that they are afflicted by inherited burdens, a phenomenon they call cargar un muerto (“to carry the dead”). Drawing on the psychoanalytic theories of the “phantom” and the “ancestor syndrome,” the author argues that the “sins of the father”—unspoken traumas like murder and neglect—manifest in the current generation as physical ailments and spiritual possessions. These afflictions are interpreted as the eruption of a collective, familial Shadow. The chapter also delves into the family’s engagement with their pre-Hispanic heritage through danzante groups and temazcal rituals, framing these practices as attempts to connect with ancestors and find healing within an indigenous cosmological framework.